Most Southwest Ohio schools got at least a passing grade on state report cards released Sept. 15, meaning they met or surpassed state standards last school year.
But six of the region's 49 districts didn't make the grade. Those districts got fewer than 3 stars on the state's five-star grading system in overall performance, which uses data from the 2025-26 academic year to gauge a district's achievement, state test scores, graduation rates, early literacy and other measures.
Any rating less than 3 stars means a district needs support to meet state standards and anything greater means it has exceeded standards.
The districts that fell short of state standards are:
- Finneytown
- Mount Healthy City Schools
- North College Hill City Schools
- Middletown City Schools
- Clermont Northeastern
- Lockland
Ten districts in the region received the highest, 5-star rating:
- Madeira City Schools
- Mariemont City Schools
- Wyoming City Schools
- Mason City Schools
- Indian Hill
- Goshen
- Williamsburg
- Forest Hills
- Loveland
- Sycamore
Cincinnati Public Schools,
with around 35,000 students, is by far the largest district in Southwest Ohio and the second-largest district in Ohio. After two years of earning 2.5 stars, Cincinnati schools improved to a3-star rating this year.
Though the report cards have been criticized on numerous occasions by some schools officials for pitting low-income districts against affluent ones, their purpose is to give families a universal tool to measure the quality of their students' schools, the state education department previously told The Enquirer.
To calculate a district's overall performance rating, the state measures performance in six categories, or components:
Achievement – This tracks student performance on state tests and whether they met state thresholds, for grades 3-12.
Progress – This shows the improvement or decline in student performance by comparing state test scores for the 2025-26 school year to the state test scores from the previous two school years (2024-25 and 2023-24).
Graduation – This measures the percentage of students who graduated within four and five years of entering high school.
Gap closing – This determines whether students of different races, income levels and abilities are meeting their respective performance goals. Factors like chronic absenteeism, gifted services and support for English learners are all considered in this category.
Early literacy – This measures student performance on third grade reading tests, the percentage of students promoted from third to fourth grade and how well districts support struggling readers.
College, career, workforce and military readiness – This uses metrics like state tests, AP exams, military enlistment, honors diplomas and technical assessments to determine the readiness of a graduating class to enter post-secondary education, the workforce or the armed forces.
Here's how the region's largest school districts, after Cincinnati Public Schools, did in overall performance and in the six components:
Lakota Local Schools
Lakota Local Schools is the region's second-largest school system, with about 16,400 students in 22 schools in Butler County.
- Overall – 4.5 stars
- Achievement – 4 stars
- Progress – 4 stars
- Graduation – 4 stars
- Gap closing – 5 stars
- Early literacy – 3 stars
- College, career, workforce and military readiness – 3 stars
Mason City Schools
Mason City Schools serves about 9,700 students in five school buildings in Warren County.
- Overall – 5 stars
- Achievement – 5 stars
- Progress – 5 stars
- Graduation – 5 stars
- Gap closing – 5 stars
- Early literacy – 4 stars
- College, career, workforce and military readiness – 3 stars
Hamilton City Schools
Hamilton City Schools serve about 8,600 students in 12 schools in Butler County.
- Overall – 3.5 stars
- Achievement – 3 stars
- Progress – 4 stars
- Graduation – 2 stars
- Gap closing – 4 stars
- Early literacy – 2 stars
- College, career, workforce and military readiness – 2 stars
Fairfield City Schools
Fairfield City Schools serves about 8,500 students in 10 schools in Butler County.
- Overall – 4 stars
- Achievement – 3 stars
- Progress – 4 stars
- Graduation – 4 stars
- Gap closing – 5 stars
- Early literacy – 2 stars
- College, career, workforce and military readiness – 3 stars
Northwest Local Schools
Northwest Local Schools is the second-largest school district in Hamilton County, with 7,200 students in 11 schools.
- Overall – 4 stars
- Achievement – 3 stars
- Progress – 4 stars
- Graduation – 4 stars
- Gap closing – 5 stars
- Early literacy – 2 stars
- College, career, workforce and military readiness – 4 stars
West Clermont Local Schools
The largest school system in Clermont County, West Clermont Local Schools serves about 7,500 students in nine schools.
- Overall – 4 stars
- Achievement – 3 stars
- Progress – 4 stars
- Graduation – 4 stars
- Gap closing – 3 stars
- Early literacy – 2 stars
- College, career, workforce and military readiness – 3 stars
Oak Hills Local Schools
Oak Hills serves more than 6,900 students in nine schools in Hamilton County.
- Overall – 4 stars
- Achievement – 4 stars
- Progress – 4 stars
- Graduation – 4 stars
- Gap closing – 5 stars
- Early literacy – 2 stars
- College, career, workforce and military readiness – 3 stars
Forest Hills Local Schools
Forest Hills Local Schools serves about 6,500 students in nine schools in Hamilton County.
- Overall – 5 stars
- Achievement – 5 stars
- Progress – 4 stars
- Graduation – 5 stars
- Gap closing – 5 stars
- Early literacy – 5 stars
- College, career, workforce and military readiness – 3 stars
Springboro Community City
The second-largest school system in Warren County, Springboro has about 5,600 students across six schools.
- Overall – 4.5 stars
- Achievement – 5 stars
- Progress – 4 stars
- Graduation – 5 stars
- Gap closing – 5 stars
- Early literacy – 3 stars
- College, career, workforce and military readiness – 4 stars
Milford Exempted Village Schools
With about 5,400 students in 10 schools, Milford is the second-largest school system in Clermont County.
- Overall – 4.5 stars
- Achievement – 4 stars
- Progress – 4 stars
- Graduation – 5 stars
- Gap closing – 5 stars
- Early literacy – 4 stars
- College, career, workforce and military readiness – 4 stars
Sycamore Community Schools
Sycamore serves about 5,900 students in Hamilton County across seven schools.
- Overall – 5 stars
- Achievement – 5 stars
- Progress – 5 stars
- Graduation – 5 stars
- Gap closing – 5 stars
- Early literacy – 4 stars
- College, career, workforce and military readiness – 3 stars
Princeton City Schools
Princeton City Schools serves about 5,600 student in Hamilton County.
- Overall – 4 stars
- Achievement – 3 stars
- Progress – 5 stars
- Graduation – 4 stars
- Gap closing – 3 stars
- Early literacy – 1 star
- College, career, workforce and military readiness – 5 stars
Middletown City Schools
Middletown City Schools serves about 5,600 students.
Overall – 2 stars
Achievement – 2 stars
Progress – 2 stars
Graduation – 2 stars
Gap closing – 2 stars
Early literacy – 1 star
College, career, workforce and military readiness – 1 star
Find your school district's 2026 Ohio report card
This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: Did your Southwest Ohio school district pass its state report card?
